Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916. Aphra Behn
Like a squirrel in a cage, always in action. 1 Belch … as loud as a Musket. 2 Chaste as angels are. 3 Cold … As a young nun the day she is envested. 4 Common as the air. 5 Cupids are like cooks of the camp, they can roast or boil a woman. 6 The fresh roses on your cheeks shall die, 7 Dropt like a rose o’er-blown. 8 Faithless … as the winds. 9 Fickle … as the winds. 10 Fixt—like conscious guilt. 11 Free as wanton winds. 12 Free, as a young calf, from sorrow. 13 Free as whispering air. 14 Gentle as a love-sick maid. 15 Marrying … ’tis like going a long voyage to sea, where after a while even the calms are distasteful, and the storms dangerous: one seldom sees a new object, ’tis still a deal of sea, sea; husband, husband, every day,—till one’s quite cloy’d with it. 16 Restless … as the winds. 17 Sad as death. 18 Sad as the groans of dying innocence. 19 Silent as the growth of flowers. 20 He looks as sullenly as a routed general. 21 Sweat like Cits in May-day Coaches. 22 Wits, like Physicians, never can agree, 23
